The article discusses the association between micro social organizational dynamics of local educational systems and the possibilities of the main actors, involved in educative policies and programs, to improve education from a territorial educational project. The results indicate that the convergence between the decoupled and centralized structure of the Chilean educational system, the modernizing dynamics of the State represented in the increasing demands of the educational policies and programs, and the limits of the city hall organization to implement them, determine the increasing complexity of the city hall organizational environment. The participants react towards this increasing complexity with pragmatic and innovation- resisting behaviors geared to protecting the education system from external changes understood as threats. This dynamics goes against the results expected of the local education policies and programs.